SpaceX Falcon 9 launch thread + F9/Dragon simulation video

[Dr Mordrid]

SpaceX has announced the first Falcon 9 (non-Dragon) has arrived at the Cape and may well be up on the pad before the end of the year, which when you think about it is a very short time line. Launch date isn't available yet, but with this level of progress it can't be too long.

Link....

They're moving a LOT faster than anyone expected (especially the guys at NASA!!), to the point they're integrating the elevator/gantry, launcher and payload under a tent because their integration building isn't ready yet

Gotta give those guys an "A" for effort and having big, brass cahones

First stage tank


Engine bay: 9 Merlin 1C's and the thrust structure that sit below the 1st stage tank. Note the armor and Kevlar blast blankets that let F9 survive and finish the mission if a thrust chamber or turbopump blows (yes, it's been tested with intentionally blown parts). This is the cluster that rattled the hell out of an area 40 miles in all directions from their Texas test center.


F9 second stage (left) and carbon composite interstage


Second stage engine: a vacuum rated Merlin 1C


Half the 5.2m x 13.9m cargo fairing


This is what their pad looks like. The large towers are for lightning protection. Note the gantry. Unlike NASA they integrate the vehicle horizontally, wheel it to the pad and raise it up. Not unlike the Russian system.



While waiting for the F9/Dragon launch this might be informative....

Video link (WMV - 16 mb)....

I suggest you watch it at 2x.

The launch is self explanatory. After the 1st stage separation you'll see two half moons drift away from Dragon; those are a protective launch shield and the escape system. Note that Dragon doesn't have 'retro rockets' like Mercury etc. It uses its (very) powerful Draco thrusters for maneuvering and retro-fire. Docking at ISS is by way of a robotic arm that grabs and links it up to the station.

[Jammrock]

Is launch going to be cargo carrying, or just dummy/empty load?

[Dr Mordrid]

They aren't saying. With the Falcon 1-4 it was a mass simulator, but previously there were unannounced military mini-sats and cubesats. The military is VERY interested in SpaceX because of their ability to mount a payload and launch within literally days of getting everything to the pad. With launchers in storage this could mean the ability to launch mini spy-sats over trouble spots that the big birds can't cover.

It wouldn't surprise me much to have this F9 launch go early - they may get it up and, if everything looks good, Elon may just say "fill 'er up and shoot". With their streamlined launch and control systems that would be very possible.

Hell....they've had F1's have faults after T-0 that required an engine shutdown (they keep it clamped 'til the engines check out) where they emptied the tank, fixed the problem, refilled and launched witihin an hour. A lot of the NASA guys, and everyione else at SDC and NSF, were impressed to say the least.

[Dr Mordrid]

SpaceX's launch integration (assembly) hangar isn't finished yet, so they are doing
Falcon 9-1's integration outside...right on the slab where the hangar is to be.
The launch gantry/erector is being built just behind it (white thing on the left in pic 2).
The aluminum section of the gantry/erector is 74 ft long, and weighs 8,000 pounds;
the steel section is 53ft long and weighs 35,000 pounds.

You don't really realize how big that hardware & the F9 are until you see them next to trucks and the cranes cab.

[Nowhere]

Awaiting eagerly firework pictures (though they probably won't manage to prepare for them in two days... ;/ )

[Dr Mordrid]

Their target is integration by the end of the year, not launch. I think maybe Feb. or March, but then you never know given they have two commercial F9 launches (MDA/Canada and Avanti Communications/UK) by summer and the COTS Demo 1 Dragon flight shortly thereafter.

Personally I'd love a seat in the LC-40 press area for this launch, not to mention the first launch of the F9 Heavy - the beast with 27 engines.

[Dr Mordrid]

More from the SpaceX LC-40 complex at Cape Canaveral

View of Falcon 9 nearing completion, with the Banana River in the distance.

Side view of the entire assembly (from left) engines, skirt, Aluminum-Lithium first stage tank, carbon composite interstage, Aluminum-Lithium second stage and 5.2x13.9 meter payload fairing.


Erector arm pieces coming together, with the large steel launch mount below, as yet unpainted.

[Nowhere]

What's the point? (in painting)

[Dr Mordrid]

Corrosion protection. The Cape is next to an ocean and a salt marsh. Salt spray gets on everything down there.

Painting wasn't done before because there were still welds to be made on that section during its installation. The gantry/erector beams were painted in SpaceX's (huge) facility California, a former 747 factory.

My bet is that the paints used would be epoxy based.

[Dr Mordrid]

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

Falcon 9 is now fully integrated at the Cape! Today we mated the 5.2 m payload fairing to the Falcon 9 first stage (see below). This was the final step in the integration process—one day ahead of schedule.

With Falcon 9 integrated, our focus shifts to the big launch mount and erector. All the pieces have been delivered, and the coming days will see a tremendous amount of welding to join them all together.

The long hours put in by the SpaceX team over the last several weeks, particularly the folks on the ground at the Cape, are certainly paying off. Once the launch mount and erector are complete, we'll transfer Falcon 9 on to the erector and raise it to vertical early in 2009. Happy New Year!

[Nowhere]

Oh; and it still ends up cheaper long term (I guess it needs to be repainted quite often due to launches/plume) than simply building it from steel quite a bit more resistant to corrosion?

[Dr Mordrid]

Cost is a factor because SpaceX's mission is to take launch costs down to a fraction of what others are charging. They could make it out of a huge chunk of stainless steel or niobium steel (niobium steel is corrosion resistant, light and double strong), but the cost would be prohibitive and the fab & welding more difficult.

[Dr Mordrid]

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
Over the last few days, we kept just ahead of our schedule, rotating the launch deck vertical and mating the strongback. We also installed the main lift cylinders, and raised and lowered the launch mount. Today we took the erector to vertical using the hydraulics system (see below). Getting the erector operational is the final step before taking Falcon 9 vertical.


A view of the erector standing vertical on the launch mount base with the cradle on top.


Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX, with Falcon 9 at Cape Canaveral